Hello, Dimension 28L

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This is a post about my conlang Bipamo (now known as ‘a2-<eu3-‘a2-<u3), a dialect of Factoran. Its writing looks like the vertical script of Bābbé̬p.

Phonology

(-) means voiceless, and (+) means voiced. < is the clapped consonant, and it is not an official IPA consonant.

	front	back
closed	/i/	/u/
middle	/e/	/o/
open	a /a~ɑ/	a /a~ɑ/

	bilabial	alveolar	velar	post-alveolar	palatal	glottal
plosive (-)	/p/	/t/	/k/			‘ /ʔ/
plosive (+)	/b/	/d/	/g/
nasal (+)	/m/	/n/	ng /ŋ/
fricative (-)	f /ɸ/	/s/	h /x~h/	sh /ʃ/		h /x~h/
affricate (-)				tsh /ʧ/
fricative (+)				zh /ʒ/
affricate (+)				dzh /ʤ/
approximant (-)					y /j/
approximant (labial)			/w/
approximant (lateral)		/l/

Here are some notes:

• This language uses clapped consonants, and < itself is also a clapped consonant. Clapped consonants are not included in the consonant table.
• Clapped consonants are constructed by putting < after a consonant. Clapped ‘ becomes <.
• Consonants Y and W can combine with plosives, nasals, and fricatives, except for ‘, to form onset clusters, such as BY, DW, and MY.
• Vowels I and U can combine with other vowels to form diphthongs, such as AI, EU, or OI.
• The syllable structure is CV(C), meaning every syllable must have an onset consonant. Every consonant is a valid onset consonant, except for NG and NG<.
• Nasals and voiceless fricatives, without claps, are valid coda consonants. Fricative codas are spelled as plosives.
• Spelled voiced plosive codas turn into I plus a voiceless fricative when pronounced.
• H has two pronunciations. One of them is velar, and the other one is glottal.
• All approximants are voiced. Here, (-) means nothing else is applied.

Tones

This language features a tone system with six tones: neutral, middle, high, low, rising, and falling. Here are some notes about them:

• The neutral tone has a shorter duration than the middle tone.
• The high and low tones are glides from the middle tone. The name determines the direction of the glide.
• The rising tone is similar to the high tone, but it is nudged lower.
• The falling tone is similar* to the low tone, but it is nudged higher.
• The ordering of tones is neutral, middle, high, low, rising, and falling.
• *The words “similar” and “identical” do not mean the same thing.

Plurals

Every noun has one plural form, except for first-person pronouns. To pluralize a noun, duplicate its first syllable. Then remove the coda consonant of the new first syllable, including any I’s attached to it. Then change the tone of the first syllable to the middle tone.

If the onset of the first syllable is a fricative, and the onset of the second syllable is a plosive, modify the second syllable instead of the first syllable.

The first-person plural pronouns are ba2-ba3 (without the listener) and ba3-ba4 (with the listener).

When nouns have a quantifier before them, they are not pluralized.

Class System

This language features a class system for nouns with six classes. Three of them describe animate objects, and three of them describe inanimate objects. Two inanimate classes describe formerly animate objects.

Classes	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Person	Person	Computer*	Child	Calculator*	Genius	Supercomputer*
Animal	Pig	Cow	Chicken
Plant	Flower	Rose	Violet	Sunflower	Tree
Seed	Rose Seed	Violet Seed	Sunflower Seed
Food	Pork	Milk**	Egg	Blood???**	Lava???**
Inanimate	Bed	Clock	Book	Map	Pen	Hat

*not exactly a person, but it has intelligence.

**a drink***.

***or a liquid.

But whatever you do, DO NOT dare to eat or drink anything with three question marks after it. I doubt those things are actual foods.

Pronouns

Pronouns are formed by taking Ba1 (neutral tone) and changing its tone for each pronoun. Here is a quick pronoun dictionary:

• Ba3 (high tone) is the first-person pronoun.
• Ba4 (low tone) is the second-person pronoun.
• Ba2 (middle tone) is the third-person gender-neutral pronoun.
• Ba5 (rising tone) is the third-person masculine pronoun.
• Ba6 (falling tone) is the third-person feminine pronoun.
• For inanimate objects, use the third-person gender-neutral pronoun.

Possessives

• ‘a2: mouth
• ‘a2-fa2-ba3: my mouth
• ‘a2-fa2-ba2-ba3: our mouth (but not yours)
• ‘a2-fa2-ba3-ba4: our mouth (and yours)
• ‘a2-fa2-ba4: your mouth
• ‘a2-fa2-ba2-ba4: your (plural) mouth
• ‘a2-fa2-ba2: its mouth
• ‘a2-fa2-ba2-ba2: their (mixed gender or all gender-neutral) mouth
• ‘a2-fa2-ba5: his mouth
• ‘a2-fa2-ba2-ba5: their (all male) mouth
• ‘a2-fa2-ba6: her mouth
• ‘a2-fa2-ba2-ba6: their (all female) mouth

Truth States

• Da3 (high tone) is the true state.
• Da4 (low tone) is the false state.
• Da2 (middle tone) is the maybe state.
• Da5 (rising tone) is the frequent state.
• Da6 (falling tone) is the infrequent state.
• If you doubt the probability, use the maybe state.

The Game of Twenty Questions

Here are some changes to the game of twenty questions for them:

• Yes and no have been replaced with true and false. The whole variety of truth states is available as an answer to the questions. A guide can be seen below:

State Usage (for Twenty Questions)	Them – False	Them – True	Them – Maybe
Others – False	False	Frequent	Maybe
Others – True	Infrequent	True	Maybe
Others – Maybe	Maybe	Maybe	Maybe

Emotions

• Dya3 (high tone) is the happy emotion.
• Dya4 (low tone) is the sad emotion.
• Dya2 (middle tone) is the neutral emotion.
• Dya5 (rising tone) is the calm emotion.
• Dya6 (falling tone) is the angry emotion.

Clause Conjunctions

• Tya3 means “and”.
• Ta2-ya3 means “and then”.
• Tya4 means “but”.
• Ta2-ya4 means “but then”.
• Tya2 means “or”.
• Tye3 means “because”.
• Tye4 means “so”.
• Ta3 means “if”.
• Ta4 means “else”.

There are also suffixes to attach to the conjunctions. Here they are:

• -ya3 transfers the subject of the previous sentence to be the subject of the next sentence.
• -ya4 transfers the object of the previous sentence to be the subject of the next sentence.
• -ya2 transfers the whole previous sentence to be this sentence. There must be a clause conjunction after this suffix.
• Combine the vowel of the conjunction with U to shift the “previous” sentence one sentence back.

Word Order

The word order is SVO (Subject-Verb-Object), with adjectives before nouns, but the subject must be of an equal or higher class than the object. If this is false, then Bu2 (middle tone) is placed before the verb to swap the subject and the object in the meaning.

• Ba3 hef3 g<if3. (I have a gift.)
• Ba3 bu2 hef3 g<if3. (A gift has me.)

Negation

Every verb and adjective, in their base form, has one syllable with a high tone. I call this syllable the “dependent syllable”. To negate a verb or adjective, change the tone of the dependent syllable to the low tone. Some nouns are also treated this way.

• Ba3 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I eat.)
• Ba3 ‘a2-<e4-<o4. (I do not eat.)

Questions

To turn a positive sentence into a question, change the tone of the verb’s dependent syllable to the rising tone. To turn a negative sentence into a question, change the tone of the verb’s dependent syllable to the falling tone.

• Ba4 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (You eat.)
• Ba4 ‘a2-<e4-<o5. (Do you eat?)

Tenses

Tenses are indicated by putting a word before the verb. If there is no tense word before the verb, it is assumed to be the present tense.

• Ba3 ha4 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I ate.)
• Ba3 ha3 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I will eat.)
• Ba3 h<a2 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I am eating.)
• Ba3 h<a4 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I was eating.)
• Ba3 h<a3 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I will be eating.)
• Ba3 hya2 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I have eaten.)
• Ba3 hya4 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I had eaten.)
• Ba3 hya3 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I will have eaten.)
• Ba3 h<ya2 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I have been eating.)
• Ba3 h<ya4 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I had been eating.)
• Ba3 h<ya3 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I will have been eating.)
• Ba3 ha2-ya2 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I have eaten.*)
• Ba3 ha2-ya4 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I had eaten.*)
• Ba3 ha2-ya3 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (I will have eaten.*)
• *These are stronger versions of the perfect aspect. I can do better.

There are also words which* compare times. These words are used as tenses of a sentence after tya3 (and).

• hwa4 (before)
• hwa3 (after)
• hwa2 (when)
• ha4-wa4 (just before)
• ha4-wa3 (just after)
• ha3-wa4 (far before)
• ha3-wa3 (far after)
• *I do not use the word “that”, because this video says not to do so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZRtDe8n_KA

If the subject is a second-person pronoun, and the verb is in the future tense, imperatives can also be expressed. To be polite, you can also use ha5 instead of ha3.

• Ba4 ha3 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (Eat.)
• Ba4 ha5 ‘a2-<e4-<o3. (Please eat.)

Infinitives are expressed by adding ‘a2- before the verb.

• ‘a2-<e4-<o3 (eat)
• ‘a2-‘a2-<e4-<o3 (to eat)

Articles

Articles are attached to the noun as prefixes.

• ‘a4-g<if3 (a gift)
• ‘a3-g<if3 (the gift)

Directions

Directions are formed by taking Ma1-na1 (neutral) and changing its tones to indicate the direction. Here is a quick direction dictionary:

• Ma2-na2 means “center” or “origin”. It can also mean “where you come from”. It is associated with the Chinese character 中.
• Ma3 means “east” or 东. Its opposite, Ma4, means “west” or 西.
• Na3 means “north” or 北. Its opposite, Na4, means “south” or 南.
• M-directions can join with N-directions to make compound directions.

Numbers

Numbers in Bipamo use base 16, making them compatible with binary. A word for a single digit is formed by taking Ba2-pa3-ma2-fa3 (number), and changing its vowels for each digit. The value of the digit is converted into binary, and each digit, from left to right, fills in each value, from left to right. Zeros become U’s, and ones become I’s. To see how this is used, check out https://joshuanugroho.com/2025/09/19/base-6-from-names, where I make base 6 systems from simple names.

Subset Variant (informal)

Digits in informal writing can also take the subset variant, which only keeps syllables with I as a vowel. Then the vowels are changed back into A’s.

Ordinals

Ordinals are marked using “di4” before the number, which is associated with the Chinese character 第.

Units of Measurement

The word “fe3” means “centimeter”, and “fe2-‘e3” means “16 centimeters”. A fe2-‘e3 is also the side length of an average computer cube. A calculator is simpler, so an average calculator cube has a side length of 0.5 fe2-‘e3.

Angles

While most languages use degrees, which make a full circle at 360 degrees, Bipamo uses <o2, and they make a full circle at 256 <o2. Here are some common angles in <o2:

• 180 degrees: 128 <o2
• 90 degrees: 64 <o2
• 45 degrees: 32 <o2

To convert any other angle from degrees to <o2, solve for x in n/360 = x/256, where n is the number of degrees.

Time

In Bipamo, a week is 16 days long, a month is 16 weeks long, and a year is 16 months long. In Bipamo, a decade is 16 years long, a century is 16 decades long, and a millennium is 16 centuries long. In Bipamo, a day is 32 hours long, an hour is 64 minutes long, and a minute is 64 seconds long.

• hye4: day
• he4: week
• he2: month
• he3: year
• he2-‘e4: decade
• he2-‘e2: century
• he2-‘e3: millennium
• hwe4: second
• hwe2: minute
• hwe3: hour

Currency

In Bipamo, the currency units are called ‘a2-de3 (cubes). The name is actually a loanword from Factoran, which Bipamo is a dialect of. There are two types of ‘a2-de3.

• The ‘a2-de3 with electrons, ‘e3-‘a2-de3 inside represent a 1 in binary notation. On their own, they are worth 1 cube.
• The ‘a2-de3 without electrons, ‘e4-‘a2-de3 inside represent a 0 in binary notation. On their own, they are worth 0 cubes.

There is a lamp inside them, which is powered by electrons. This makes it easy to differentiate ‘e3-‘a2-de3 and ‘e4-‘a2-de3 just by looking at them.

To use them as payment, a special plate is used to insert each cube. The receiver reads the plate at its correct orientation, and interprets it as a binary number.

The cube storage machine has a computer which reads the plate to give the hexadecimal notation. It also has an input plate which can be used to store money. Once you store the money, the computer reads the input plate, and it adds or removes electrons from cubes based on computations.

To get money from the machine, enter a number using the hexadecimal pad, then press the button. The computer then does computations and returns the cubes with the output plate.

There are banks (‘a2-de3-ga4) which make cubes, which are then used for payment. They have a factory which makes ‘e4-‘a2-de3, and a factory which inserts electrons into cubes.

These banks also make cuboids, which are twice as wide as regular cubes. On their own, with electrons inside, they are worth 3 cubes. Without electrons inside, they are worth 0 cubes. There are machines which take cuboids, and split them into two cubes.

Colors

Our eyes (‘i2) receive colors from objects around us, such as roses and violets. The colors are split into different wavelengths (la3), and then our brain processes these wavelengths as colors (‘i2-la3) and combines them. In Bipamo, all color names contain ‘i2-la3, meaning “color”, followed by a truth state answering the question, “Is its wavelength long?”

Color Dictionary

• Red? Yes.
• Orange? Frequently.
• Yellow? Maybe.
• Green? Infrequently.
• Blue? No.
• Indigo? Infrequently and* no.
• Violet? No and* no.
• *There is no clause conjunction between them.

A truth state can also appear before the word for “color”. This can answer the question, “Is it bright?”

Color Brightness

• Bright? Yes.
• Normal? Maybe*.
• Dark? No.
• *This may be omitted.